Housing and welfare assistant caseworker jobs

Responsible to: Operations Manager 

Role purpose: To supports people in the local community through the provision of holistic Money, Debt and Budgeting Advice 

Salary Scale:2.1 – 2.4.  £27,495 - £29,400 FTE. P/T hours will be considered

Key work areas and tasks 

Provision of advice and casework 

• Provide money advice and casework covering the full range of debt advice topics including priority and non-priority debt and money advice issues 

• Identify urgent situations and ensure any possible action is taken immediately 

• Assist clients with related issues integral to their debt case such as welfare benefits advice, housing, other financial matters and income maximisation (incorporates applications for grants and other welfare schemes) 

• Work with the client to draw up an agreed financial statement incorporating the Standard Financial Statement 

• Enable clients to identify and explore various options they may have in addressing their situation explaining the consequences and limitations of each option 

• Assist clients in the calculation of offers to priority and non-priority creditors with reference to their Financial Statement.  

• Where appropriate undertake negotiations with clients’ creditors and other relevant bodies and/or act for the client by drafting or writing letters and telephoning and negotiating with third parties as necessary 

• Prepare and present cases to the appropriate statutory bodies and courts as required including DRO, Breathing Space and bankruptcy applications 

• Maintain timely, accurate and detailed case records and adhere to administration systems 

• Maintain statistical information and other required documents and undertake client feedback surveys and facilitate client evaluation 

• Manage an agreed caseload of debt and money advice cases 

• Ensure all work casework conforms to Operational Policy including meeting the requirements of the Advice Quality Standard, FCA and MAPS 

• Provide basic welfare benefits advice to clients, to include assessing eligibility for benefits, better-off calculations and other income maximisation advice 

• Assist clients with other problems, referring to other advisers and/or agencies as appropriate 

• Provide representation for clients at county or magistrates courts when appropriate 

• Provide support, guidance and supervision to the money advice trainee caseworker/caseworker’s assistant and other less experienced staff and volunteers 

Research and Campaigns (social policy work) 

• Assist with social policy work by providing information about clients' circumstances through the appropriate channel.

• Research and campaigns, monitoring and relationship building.  

• Assist with the development and implementation, in conjunction with the Operations Manager and in consultation with other charity workers, the Charity’s Research and Campaigns Plan.  

• Assist with research and campaigns work by providing information about clients' circumstances through the appropriate channel.   

Administration 

• Maintain and monitor effective and efficient administrative systems.

• Monitor health and safety policy with regard to staff, equipment and premises within statutory requirements.

• Ensure complaints are brought to the Manager’s attention as soon as is practicable. 

Training and Development 

• Identify and implement own training and development needs (in consultation with the Operations Manager).   

• Identify the training needs of charity workers through support and supervision and contribute towards the charity’s training and development plans. 

• Contribute to organising training activities in conjunction, as appropriate, with the Operations Manager. 

Other Duties and Responsibilities 

• Abide by health and safety guidelines and share responsibility for own safety and that of colleagues.   

• Abide by data security and information assurance guidelines.  

• Ensure that work undertaken reflects and supports the Citizens Advice service’s equality and diversity strategy   

• Any other relevant tasks or duties required to ensure the effective running of the charity and our services. 

• To contribute to the induction and on-going training of charity workers within the team.  

Person specification  

Essential criteria 

• Qualified and competent money advice and debt caseworker holding the relevant accredited quality standard and other competencies set down by Advice Quality Standard, Money and Pension Service, FCA and/or Institute of Money Advisers 

• Demonstrable and thorough understanding of the application of the debt process in a busy advice organisation and of doing so in a client- centred and efficient way including through working on a Money Advice Service or MAPS funded programme 

• A positive approach to quality of advice audit (including peer review and external audit) and a commitment to constructive feedback as part of the quality assurance and learning process (as a recipient and 

• as a supervisor) 

• The ability to sift through large amounts of information and gather essential details during a client interview 

• Excellent negotiation skills with experience of conducting negotiations with a range of agencies and creditors 

• Proven ability to plan and prioritise your workload, meet deadlines and work calmly and with focus within a busy and fast paced environment 

• Experience of using a casework recording and quality assurance system and IT platforms 

• Experience of providing effective guidance and support to peers and junior colleagues and the ability to plan and co-ordinate the workload of others 

• Experience of working effectively within a team including paid and volunteer staff 

• Excellent communication skills (spoken and written) and the ability to develop and maintain positive, professional, working relationships with clients, funders, stakeholders, colleagues, volunteers, creditors and other agencies 

• Proven IT skills including very confident and competent use of Word, Excel, databases, cloud-based systems etc to maintain effective records, administrative and reporting systems 

• A commitment to travelling to various locations as required 

• Understanding of the issues affecting society and their implications for clients and service provision 

• Understanding of and commitment to the aims and principles of the CA service and its equal opportunities policies 

Desirable criteria 

•   Hold a current registration as a DRO intermediary 

• Experience of working within a Citizens Advice charity   

• Experience of working with the public in an advisory capacity